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Worse font, better learning

A new study by researchers from Princeton and Indiana universities suggests that students retain more information by making it feel like it's more difficult to learn.

The researchers tested their theory on high school students and adults by splitting the subjects into two groups that were given the same reading passages in easier- and harder-to-read formats, including smaller and larger sized fonts and poorly copied pages.

When the readers were later tested on what they had read, those who had the less readable formats scored higher on information retention, according to the paper to be published in Cognition magazine.

The researchers attributed the differences on a concept called disfluency, which is when something feels hard to do, that can actually contribute to better learning. But they also cautioned that there are limits to their theory, such as the risks of making reading material illegible or causing struggling students to give up on the reading passage altogether.

Even so, they suggested the concept would be easy to adapt to current classroom teachings.

"This is a no-cost policy fix that could really improve students' learning," said co-author Daniel Oppenheimer, an associate professor of psychology and public affairs at Princeton. "While we do need to further test the theory, if we are right, schools across the country could potentially see significant results without making a dent in school budgets."